Life Keeps Going
by Lia Fox
Summary: Gabe gets a letter and a visit from the past and Nicole and Jason look for answers equals pain, tears, love, loss, and shock...and yet Life Keeps Going! (suck at summaries, just read it)
1. The Letter

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own any of the North Shore characters!

Chapter 1 : **The Letter**

"Hey Frankie, what did Vincent say about your night club?" Gabriel walks over to one of his few friends on the island after his shift. "Well he agreedâso long as I could raise ten thousand by the end of the first night!" Frankie mumbled as his smile disappeared trying to figure out how to go about earning the now rather impossible seeming sum of money. "Don't worry man, the club will be rocking and the hunnies will bring in all the beach boys, ten won't be that hard." Gabe tried to sound as if it was a piece of cake, but was having big doubts about the first night.

"Gabriel Miller!" Tessa called from the counter, "You've got a letter here. Try not to give out this address as your, because you _certainly_ don't _own_ the hotel." Tessa flicked her hair and returned to counting the till money.

With a scowl on his face, Gabe grabbed the letter and tore it open. "Oh my god!" his face lit up for a brief moment as he caught the name at the end, but quickly turned into a frown as he read the letter. Frankie was looking intently at Gabe because the more he read, the darker his face became, and he honestly couldn't remember Gabe ever getting a letter from home before. "Gabe?"

The sound of his name seemed to snap Gabriel out of his trance. He looked into the imploring face of his fellow co-worker and mumbled some lame excuse about having to get back to work and headed out the door. Frankie watched him go, figuring it was just another bill, until he realized that Gabe had the afternoon off today. Curious as to what could make him so upset as to lie to him, Frankie followed Gabe out the door.

-------------

When Gabe reached his room, he shut the door behind him and stumbled to his bed, still clutching the letter. As if to make sure he hadn't dreamed it, he reread the letter twice before letting it slip from his fingers to the floor.

"Gabe?" Frankie knocked on the door before he peeked into the room. The lost look that Gabe gave him told Frankie that something was seriously wrong. "What is it?" Taking a seat across from Gabe at the desk, he waited for Gabe to answer. But Gabe couldn't seem to find the words; instead just opening and closing his mouth liked a stranded fish. "All rightâum, who's the letter from?" At this Gabe picked the letter back up and looked at the bottom as if to assure himself who had sent it.

"Nikkola." Frankie had never heard Gabe mention Nikkola and hadn't the slightest idea as to who she could beâbut then again, Gabe didn't talk about his past that much. "And Nikkola is?" Trying to figure out what the hell was wrong; Frankie wanted to keep the talking going – even if it was only one word answers. In a daze, Gabriel answered automatically, "She grew up next door to me for like ten years. The three of us used to hang out all the time, he was the one who taught me how to surf." Gabe dropped his eyes back to the letter again. "Well that just explains it all now doesn't it! Gabe, what is wrong?" Frankie stand up, snapping out of his daze a little, Gabe looks at Frankie like he just realized he was there. "Explains what?" Gabe looks around his room realizing where he was and wondering when he had got there. "Explains what is wrong, man. Why are you like this? What did the letter from Nikkola say?" Frankie grabs the letter and waves it in front of Gabe's face. "Oh," a sigh passes over Gabe's whole body and he takes the letter back from Frankie, "it says that Jack, Nikkola's brotherâwas in a surfing accident and died two weeks ago." Realization struck Frankie, he had heard Gabe mention something about his childhood friend Jack, and knew that they had been close. "Oh man, I'm sorry. I know this has got to be hard, um, well I'll just give you some space now then." The grateful look Gabe gave him before he closed the door, told him that this is what Gabe needed right now.

After Frankie had left, Gabe grabbed a picture off the desk, it showed Jack, Nikkola and him the day before Gabe had left. It wasn't until he saw Jack smiling from the picture that the death hit him. "Christ, he was only twenty-one!"

-----------

--Beep Beep Beep-- Gabe reached over and shut his alarm off. Rubbing his eyes clear of sleep. Looking at the clock he realized it was seven in the morning and he had half an hour to get to work. As he slipped his shirt on, he saw the picture of Jack and all the memories came flooding back, forcing Gabe to sit down before he fell. Realizing he hadn't gotten to sleep until three a.m. last night because he's been thinking about Jack and had eventually cried himself to sleep over losing him, he decided to skip breakfast and grab some coffee before he headed to work to wake himself up.

----------

"Gabe, how're you doing man?" Frankie noticed the dark circles under Gabe's eyes and could tell he hadn't slept at all in the last week. "I'm fine, just lay off all right?" Gabe threw him a dirty look and pushed past him to get to work. "Fine." Frankie walked away and knew that something wasn't right with Gabriel.

"Frankie!" Nicole called from behind him, "What's up with Gabriel? He looks like shit." The genuine concern on her face relaxed Frankie a little. "He got a letter that told him some long time friend died a couple of weeks a go." Nicole looked after Gabe feeling sorry that he had to go through something like that. "Well, Vincent has been getting complaints from customers, so tell Gabe to deal with it another way other then taking it out on the guests, or Vin will fire him and I don't think that's what he needs right now." Nicole gave a small apologetic smile before heading upstairs. _'Great, just what I need, tell Gabe to get over the fact that his best friend just died and start helping all the spoiled little guests!'_ Not looking forward to that conversation, Frankie decided he _really_ needed to start working out the finer points of his club, which hadn't started out too bad. Sure it didn't quiet make ten thousand, but it had made enough that Vincent had agreed to keep it going.

----------

Nicole managed to slip into her old room unseen and smiled when she saw Jason lying on her bed flipping through a magazine. "Finally!" He stood up and encircled his arms around her, pulling her into a passionate kiss. "So? Anything yet?" Jason pulled away and looked questioningly into Nicole's eyes. "I mean, you've been there a week, you've got to have seen or heard something." Nicole shook her head and walked to the window. "He's either really good at acting, or my father had never done anything he regrets in his life. I mean, the man is _always _happy!" Fed up and very confused, Nicole shakes her head clear. "Okay, so I asked him about my mom's disappearance and he changed completely, he got defensive and upsetâbut his wife left him, don't you think any man would act like that?" Nicole turned to face Jason. "Well sure, or he's trying to hide that fact that she didn't just walk out of your house one day and not come back. Listen babe, there's something that doesn't fit about your dad, I don't know what, it's just my gut telling me that things aren't right." He moved closer to her and put protective arms around her waist. "I know, it's just that he's my dad. I can't believe that he wouldâyou know." Tears welled up in Nicole's eyes and Jason brushed them away. "It's all right, we'll get to the bottom of this, I swear." He pulled her into a hug and she relaxed as she felt his body's warmth stop her shaking.

----------

"Hey, has anyone else noticed the lack of Gabriel tonight?" Jason glanced around the night lounge looking from face to face. "I mean, he's big on the party scene and he hasn't even been to this club yet!" Nicole looked at Frankie and knew that Gabriel was still dealing with Jack's death. "He's not in the mood I guess." The grouped continued on, unaware that at that moment Gabriel was sitting on the cliff looking into the ocean.

Gabe watched as the waves crashed into the rocks and let the sound wash over him. His heart began to beat with the tide and he smiled. Opening his eyes, he lit a branch on fire that he had carved Jack's name into and threw it over the cliff. The old Hawaiian traditional symbol for offering peace to a lost soul gave Gabe a kind of reassurance. He stretched his arms out and lay back down, letting the sound of the surf put him to sleep.

----------

Waking to the sound of tourists enjoying the mourning sun, Gabriel stretched his legs and looked at the beautiful morning, realizing he had had a good's night rest finally. Something on the water caught his attention, there were lots of surfers out on the waves today, but this one was further out and riding a lot of the bigger waves. The style with which the surfer handled the raging water reminded him of Jack, in fact it was exactly like Jack. As the surfer hit the sand, Gabe noticed that the wetsuit and even the board looked exactly like Jack's, there was no way he would forget the personalized board. In a rush of excitement and complete denial, Gabe ran down from the cliff to the sand – only to be met with a greater shock then he expected.


	2. promises

"I don't know MJ, it's a little out of our price range don't you think?" Chris is relaxing in a leather massage chair and knows MJ is just trying to make up for his house. "Oh, come on. You can't tell me you don't want this!" MJ pouts while sitting in another copy and getting her back massaged, "Just think about coming home after a long days hard work and then sitting down and getting a _full body massage_, for free none the less." She smiles as she turns on Chris' chair. He had to admit, the price was good for the chair, but it still was higher than he would have liked to pay. "How about we think about, ok?" Chris stands up before the Heat Relaxor 2005 tempts him much more. "Fine." MJ stands reluctantly and plants a kiss on Chris' cheek, "plus, I can always get a massage from you." A sly little glance over her shoulder, and the blond headed out the door.

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"Oh my god!" Gabriel stares into the face of his childhood friend he hasn't seen in over six years. "I can't believe it's you! I mean, I thought I recognized the style - and the board - but I thought-" Gabe was still in shock and couldn't quite form a sentence yet. "Hey." The red head couldn't think of anything else to say, too taken aback by who was standing across from her. "I had no idea you were here!" Gabe continues to stare into those sea-green eyes, "Yeah, I ah, work at the hotel up there." Vaguely pointing in the right direction. "But-what are you doing here? I thought you were in Miami with your parents, at least, that's what the letter said." A silence filled the gap between the two friends, as each remembered Jack in their own way. "Nikkola-I'm really sorry. I wish I could have gone to the funeral but I didn't get the letter until last week. I-how are you?" Instantly the smile playing on Nikkola's lips vanished and was replaced with a stony glare. "Whatever Gabe. Listen, I'm gonna hit some clubs, wanna go?" Nikkola began to load her surf board into her truck. "It's like nine in the morning, why do you want to hit some clubs?" Gabe could sense that something wasn't right; he had figured Nik would be a wreck after her brother's death. After all, the two had been inseparable since before he came along, they even went to the same University and everything. Gabe reached out and lightly touched her shoulder, causing her to shuddered, "I'm not doing this, okay? I-I just can't!" She hurriedly jammed her board in and ran to the driver's side. "Wait, you can't do what? I'm just trying to help with Jack. I don't understand." Gabe was talking across the car to his now very emotional friend. "Well I don't need your help. It's not as if you cared before so just drop it!" It stung Gabriel deeper then she meant to, but she couldn't deal with Jack's death, she hadn't even tried yet. "I got to go, all right." Quickly jumping into the truck and speeding out of the parking lot, Nik was gone before Gabe even had a chance to react.

----------

Trying very hard to focus on his job and not the awkward behaviour of Nik prior that day, Gabe kept getting lost in thought. _What was with her this morning? I've never seen her so -distant before. I mean, she's the typical romantic chick, she cries at all those stupid movies and loves to 'talk', so why wouldn't she want to talk about her brother to the only guy who knew him almost as well as she did? Something is not fitting here!_ Lost deep in thought, Gabe didn't even see Nikkola step off of the elevator until Tessa yelled at some bell hop for not being fast enough. Trying to see who she was yelling at today, he caught sight of Nik heading out of the hotel, "Nik! Hey Nik, wait up." Jogging over to her, Nikkola hesitated for a moment before turning to Gabriel. "Look, I know you've got to deal with it, but we do it differently-"Gabe cut her off before she could finish, "How about not at all? Come on Nik, I know you too good to know you haven't dealt with this at all. Look at you, you're out surfing in Hawaii three weeks after he died for Christ sakes. What's going on?" A look of utter sorrow and loss came over Nikkola for a moment and then turned into the same stony glare from earlier that day. "Gabe, I don't need you telling me how to live my life, all right? God, I got enough of that from my mother! Why do you think I'm out here? It's great to see you, but I got to go...big waves just calling my name." And with that she was gone. Dumbfounded by this new behaviour Gabriel was surprised he made it through his shift.

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"Hunny?" Jason Matthews walked into Nicole's office with a bouquet of roses for her. Nicole was on the phone with some company issue, so she waved him in and he placed the flowers on her desk causing her to make that adorable little face he loved. "Sounds great Mr. Chaiel, I'll call you in the morning to finalize the details." Hanging up the phone Nicole got up from her desk and silently kissed Jason as a thank you. "They're beautiful!" Smelling the enchanting sent, Nicole placed them in an empty vase on her table and mentally reminded herself to get some water. "What's the occasion?" She played coyly with Jason's jacket. "None, just thought you might need a pick-me-up." Jason smiled down at her and kissed her lightly on the forehead, "How's it going?" Nicole pulled away and let out a sigh. "It's not. I can't get any leads, I have no idea what to believe, and I'm so mixed up right now I don't even think I would know the truth if it hit me in the face!" Stressed out, Nicole collapses onto a chair and starts to massage her temples in an attempt to relieve the constant headache. "Listen, we're going to get through this okay? We've just got to keep looking." Frustrated, Nicole stands up and faces Jason, "Looking for what Jason? We don't even know what it is we're looking for? How do we know we haven't found it all ready?" Jason looked at what this was doing to his girlfriend and, for a moment, debated weather or not to end the search, but realized he couldn't stop now. "I don't know, but I'm sure once we find it, we'll know." He gave her a reassuring smile and pulled her into a hug. "How about we go out tonight? Forget about this just for a night and have a little fun, what do you say?" Nicole smiled up at him, "That sounds great! Now, how to not tell my father?"

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"Hey man, who was that babe I saw you with earlier today?" Frankie fell into step beside Gabriel and followed him to the lobby. "That-that was Nikkola." A look of comprehension dawned on Frankie's face. "Well, the reason I asked, is that she's in the lounge-and she gone man. I mean one hundred percent hammered. You might want to check that out." Frankie gave an apologetic look and kept walking; Gabe turned around and hurried into the lounge. He didn't have to look hard to find Nikkola; she was easily one of the loudest in the joint. "Nik, come on. I'm going to take you home okay." Gabe went over to his old friend and helped her up off of the couch. "Gabe! You remember the time when I was-I was-I don't know how old I was. But we were-in some-some place and you were-what was I saying?" Nik fell onto Gabe and he stumbled into the wall. "Right. Come on, do you think you can walk?" Nikkola just gave a stupid smile, "Okay, I guess I'll carry you then." Sweeping Nik into his arms, Gabe carried her to the lobby. "What floor are you on?" Gabe put Nikkola down and she started to push all the elevator call buttons. "Floor? Aren't we on the floor?" Seeing that this was going no where fast, Gabe decided it best to take Nikkola for a drive to clear her head.

"Here, drink this and take these." Gabe gave Nik some water and aspirin to help with the headache. He had driven her out to the point where he was last night. He came out here to think, and right now he had to think about a lot of things. "It will help, I promise." Nikkola took what he offered and gave a little sarcastic laugh. "Well you promised to be there for me, remember that one? A lot of good the promise did me when Jack-"She stopped herself and drank the water to cover up. "When Jack what? When he died? Say it Nik! You've got to face it at some point, come on. I can help you through this but only if you admit to it first." Nik just gave him a dirty look and lay down on the grass. "Jesus Nik, this isn't you. You never got drunk, you never ever broke the rules, and you were the good one remember?" Gabe turned to the cliff and looked into the sea, "You were always the one who knew just what to say, you could make anything better, all you had to do was smile. You made my dad leaving easier, God, you were the reason hung out with Jack. You were-everything." Gabe turned to Nikkola and saw that she had passed out. Picking her up, he placed her in the car and drove to his house. Lightly placing Nikkola on the bed, Gabe took off he shoes and was pulling the blanket up when Nik grabbed his hand, "I missed you Gabe, I missed you a lot. I was hurting and you weren't there, why weren't you there?" Slipping in and out of sleep, Gabe starred at the person in front of him, the one who knew him like no one else did, "because I let you go, and I swear that will never happen again." Nik smiled and pulled Gabe closer, "Stay with me?" Gabe crawled into bed with her and she snuggled into his warmth. "Promise me, you'll stay with me?" Gabe kissed the top of her head and wrapped his arm around her, before whispering "I promise" and falling asleep.


	3. Uncharacteristic

Ch. 3 – Hangovers are Hell

"Argh!" Nikola rolled over and puled the covers over her head to try and block out the sunshine, which seemed unnaturally bright this morning. "I swear I will never drink again," she grumbled into the pillow, "so long as this headache stops." Someone chuckles from the doorway and she could smell eggs and bacon – her favourite breakfast. Slowly, so the world wouldn't spin too much, she lifts the covers and looks at Gabe.

"You know, I never took you for a drinker. You were always the sober driver – maybe that's because you couldn't hold your booze?" Gabe gave a wry smile and put the breakfast down on the nightstand. "Or maybe it's that you weren't legal yet. I think that was it." He pulled the covers off of Nik's face and rolled his eyes dramatically, feigning passing out from the smell of her breath. "Here," he says a little more gently and hands her two small pills, "it's for hangovers, some guys from work gave them to me."

"You've already been to work?" Nikola sat up a little and then paused to give time for the nausea to settle.

"I've been to work, went for a jog and surfed a little; it's three in the afternoon girl. Time is a wasting!" He pulled back the curtains and let all the light into the room.

"Damn you." Nik spun around and had to lay down again. "You act like you don't know what a hangover is; shall I remind you of your senior year of high school?" She sipped the water and swallowed the pills and then retreated back under the blankets.

"Harsh, I wasn't drunk all the time!" Gabe looked at her and knew why she'd get that impression. "Anyways, I was wondering if you wanted to go for a little surf? It's always more entertaining with a hangover – well for me anyways." He disappeared for a while, allowing Nik to let her head settle. The drugs seemed to have worked and she slowly got out of bed, noticing that the world was level, she made her way to the bathroom and finally the living room where Gabe was watching TV.

"Hey," she smiled and he returned it, "how 'bout some coffee?" He pointed to the counter where a cup was steaming and waiting. "Excellent!" Nikola grabbed the cup and settled in next to Gabriel. Quietly and comfortably, the two friends sat and watched a show that neither really paid attention to.

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"NICOLE!" Mr. Booth stormed into the house and threw his jacket aside. "NICOLE? GET IN HERE!" Furious and out-of-control, this is how Nicole hated her father.

"Yes daddy?" the timid voice from the doorway caused the man to spin around.

"Don't you daddy me! I have just found out some interesting facts, you and your little boy toy have been spying on me – you never actually wanted to stay with me...just spy on me! How dare you use me like that, my own daughter? I am ashamed of you, and do you know what I do with things that no longer suit me?" He glared down at her.

Nicole was in shock, how could he have known, but she had to remain cool, for her mother's sake. "Daddy, I don't know what you mean. I wanted to move in here and be with you, and who told you'd I've been spying? Do you really think I would do something like that?" Nicole could tell this gave her father second thoughts, but she was still shaking a little.

"Don't play dumb with me; I want you out of the house now! You can go be with that no-good boyfriend of yours and see how well he can live with you. Twenty-four hours Nicole, and then you're cut off from everything!" Mr. Booth turned and stormed out of the house, leaving his daughter in an exasperated state.

'I don't get it, how did he find out? There is no one besides Jason who knew what I was doing and there is no way he told! We talked about it in private so no one could have over heard unless they had access to the offices and then it's only the secretaries – who were never there – and Vincent – who wouldn't have told either!' Completely lost Nicole began to head upstairs to pack. She knew her father better then anyone and knew it would be best if she wasn't here when he got back, she'd have to act fast though – take out some money and go see Jason and Vincent. And as she was packing away her favourite dress, she noticed the red wine stain that Tessa had 'accidentally' spilt on her. 'Of course! Tessa could have over heard us, and I know she would have sold us out instantly. Damn it!' So her father knew and now she had no idea what to do, praying that Jason would be able to figure something out, she grabbed her purse and drove away.

----------four days----------

"MJ? You called me an hour ago and said something was wrong?" Frankie knocked on the door to the new apartment and it swung open – not something unusual for an islander. "MJ?" His friend had sounded terrified on the phone and as quickly as possible, Frankie had rushed over fearing the worst, the lack of response was not helping.

"I'm in here, Frankie." MJ's meek little voice echoed from the bedroom. "Can you come in here a sec?"

Quickly, Frankie pushed the door open and saw MJ on the bed, but stopped before he reached her side. "MJ, where are all the clothes?" The closet had been torn apart and all of the dressers contents were on the floor. "Were you robbed?" Frankie knelt down beside the bed and saw that MJ was crying – or had been recently.

"I wish!" She mumbled into the bed and then tried to dry her eyes, but another wave of emotion hit her and she started to cry again.

Grabbing her hand to calm her down, Frankie took another look around the place and noticed something strange. All of MJ's clothes were on the floor – but he couldn't see any of Chris's. "Where's Chris?" This was obviously the wrong thing to ask because MJ started to cry harder and was breathless from having cried herself out before hand.

"I was hoping you sob could tell me!" MJ dissolved into tears and Frankie picked her up into a hug.

"It's all right, we'll find him. Just breathe MJ." Frankie stroked her back to try to calm her down but was now piecing everything together.

"Find him? You honestly think he had time to pack all of his shit and then just decided to get lost? It doesn't work that way Frankie – he's gone. He left this morning with some hot babe he had to teach. I found the receipt for two tickets out of here, but by then he was all ready gone! Asshole!" MJ had stopped crying, but now she was pissed off.

"Come on, Chris would never do something like that, he's one of the good guys remember. I mean you two were so happy when you were at my house – let's just say the love never seemed to stop." But there was a nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach. Nothing added up and he really didn't know a lot about Chris, unable to think of anything else, Frankie offered to call Gabriel and ask if he knew anything about it.

----------

"Gabe, thank god. I don't know what to do. Oh, hello." Frankie noticed that Nikola was standing behind Gabe and shook hands before pulling Gabe into the house.

"You're telling me that Chris took off and left MJ here? I don't know man, that doesn't seem like him." Gabe couldn't picture Chris just leaving MJ here, they always looked so happy.

"And how well do you guys really know this Chris person?" Nik was staring around at the bedroom and knew instantly what had happened.

When neither of them replied, Nikola got the point. "Sorry boys, but he's gone. No one bothers to pack everything unless they don't plan on returning." Nik gave a disgusted look around the room as if Chris was still there.

"And who the hell are you?" MJ emerged from a pile of blankets with puffy red eyes and tear streaked face.

"Oh hun, I didn't know you were in the room. Look, I'm Nikola – Gabe's friend, is there anything I can get you?" The expression on Nik's face instantly changed to a caring face full of pity.

"Don't bother, I've asked her that all night." Frankie watched as MJ just pulled the covers over her head again.

"How about some tea? Does that sound good?" Nik walked over to the bed and heard a muffled 'yes' from MJ. "All right, I'll go boil some water, just take your time and come meet me in the kitchen." Nik patted what she thought was MJ's arm and turned around.

"Impressive!" Frankie said as they headed towards the kitchen and Nik made herself busy while they could here signs of MJ getting out of bed.

"It's her thing man. This is what she does best." Gabe smiled at Nikola and realized how much healing she had done in the past four days. They hadn't really talked about Jack a lot – but they were getting there. She was defiantly happier now.

"Well I can see why you kept her around man; she's got a way with words." Frankie gave a little nod to Nikola and she smiled in return.

"Hey MJ." Gabe saw MJ come out of the room and instinctively moved in-between Frankie and Nik.

Once the tea was ready, everyone took a cup and moved into the living room. They all gathered around MJ on the couch and offered supportive faces to her.

"Why don't you boys leave us alone for a while? Go clean up the bedroom maybe?" Nikola could tell that this attention was making MJ uncomfortable. The boys shrugged and headed to the bedroom to leave the girl chat up to the girls.

"So darling, tell me everything."


End file.
